Catching up on our trip

"Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly?" - Frida Kahlo

Last Friday morning, Kyusik and Bryce got up at 4:45 am so they could pick up his two friends Benji and Crosby and get to school at 5:40 am. They left on two buses for a week-long 7th grade backpacking trip in Joshua Tree. Bryce is now big enough to wear my pack. Acadian played hooky since we had to leave for the airport at 10:30 am. I called the school to say he was sick, which was actually true. He had a cold that he then gave to me. Acadian and I are writing this jointly together as we sit on the bus to Teotihuacan. 

After landing in Ciudad de Mexico, we took an Uber to our AirBnB, a really nice two bedroom, two bathroom flat in the area of Roma Sur. Roma Norte with lots of restaurants, cafes, and bars is a hip area within walking distance of us. We headed out for a progressive taco dinner. On our way to a taco stand that we had seen in a Netflix episode of the Taco Chronicles, we stopped first for some tacos at another stand where everyone was lining up. Read Acadian’s taco entry for more details about my so called “great sense of direction” and tacos. 

The next morning we walked to a place for breakfast that specializes in sweet and savory tamales and hot chocolate. We had a spicy meat-like tamale with mushrooms that Acadian did not eat. Instead, he tried a slightly sweet tamale topped with cheese and chopped up brown bits called chapulines. We later told him that they were grasshoppers, at which point he refused to eat more. We also ordered some eggs with house salsa, which came with black beans and atole, a hot sweet corn drink flavored with guava. We over ordered by getting some yummy esquites (corn) with sesame and cheese and a cafe de olla. This is my favorite kind of coffee as it’s sweetened with piloncillo and flavored with orange peel and cinnamon. From breakfast, we walked to a wide avenue recommended by a DrPH student friend of mine from CDMX, where Kyusik got some coffee and then we happened upon the Roma Norte branch of a famous churreria. (Sorry I can't find the accent right now.)

We took an Uber to the Mercado de Coyoacán and also looked at the art market outside. We especially enjoyed watching a marionette paint. The artist must be very sore at the end of the day from hunching over to control the marionette's brush. We then walked to get tacos de canasta or basket tacos, which we also saw on the Taco Chronicles. Tacos de canesta are served from a basket lined with blue plastic and transported by bicycle. They are filled with either chicharrones, beans, or potato and steamed with a chili oil. We tried one of each type since we were still a bit full from our huge breakfast and almost burned our mouths off from the habanero salsa. We also really enjoyed a salsa with pineapple, onions, and cucumbers. We had to buy a box of strawberry juice at the nearby store to cool our mouths down. We've been really impressed by Acadian, who is our picky eater. He's now open to eating cilantro and raw onions on tacos, had tripe (although we didn't tell him until afterwards) and has a much higher spice tolerance. As he used to say when he was younger, he has "turned into a new leaf" rather than turned over a new leaf. 

We then walked around the corner to get in line for the Frida Kahlo Museo, aka the casa azul or blue house. We really enjoyed seeing the house she and Diego shared, the photos of her, her artwork, clothing, and most of all her studio, where her paints and brushes were left as is. We also learned so much about the trauma she first suffered when she got polio at the age of 6, leaving her with one leg shorter than the other. She purposely dressed in big long skirts and drew attention to her upper body with ornate blouses, hairstyles, and jewelry to disguise this deformity. We also learned about the near fatal accident she suffered, leaving her to have to lie in bed for long periods, during which she took up painting, the miscarriage she had, and that she had to have her gangrenous left foot amputated a year before she died. 

After touring the house and enjoying the gardens, we took an Uber to the Museo Anahuacalli, designed by Diego Rivera. Both the architecture and his immense collection of pre-Hispanic artifacts were impressive. We then took an Uber to Tacos Vilsito, which is a garage by day and a famous al pastor taco stand at night. We were the only tourists there. There are two huge trompos or spits of pork where the taquero shaves it off with a huge knife and then flings a thin slice of pineapple from the very top on your tacos. People often drive up to the sidewalk, place their order and then eat, never even having to get out of their cars.